288 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



of foliage. At each fall the inferior stems of 

 each class in the overwood should be harvested, 

 leaving only the best grown to attain larger and 

 more profitable dimensions. Where over-mature, 

 broad crowned trees have to be cut out before 

 the fall of the coppice takes place in regular 

 rotation, they should of course be lopped of 

 all large branches and of their crowns, so as 

 to reduce to a minimum the damage done to 

 the underwood when felling. 



The defects in the underwoods of most British 

 copses can be much more easily and speedily 

 remedied than those in the overwood. By 

 sowing or dibbling in seeds of oak, ash, maple, 

 sycamore, chestnut, beech, and in damp places 

 also hornbeam, on prepared patches in autumn 

 or spring much can be done to improve the 

 density of the underwood, and to raise up seed- 

 lings from which a good class of stores may 

 be selected to form standards. These patches 

 may be made of about four feet square, the earth 

 being well hoed or delved up and thoroughly 

 mixed and pulverised before sowing the hardwood 

 seeds. The soil-covering should vary according 

 to the size of the seed, being somewhat over an 



